1. Related Applications
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or any foreign country.
2. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to removing arborescent material from land, and more particularly to a tool for bare root extraction of trees and stumps that is operated by the tool hitch of a tractor or front-end loader.
3. Background and Description of Prior Art
As the extraction of larger nursery stock has developed and progressed, especially from manual to mechanical methods, two different processes for extraction and preservation of the viability of the stock from the time of extraction to reestablishment in the earth have devolved, the first being the "balled root" process and the second being the "bare root" process.
The bare root process is the older because of its similarity to the previously existing manual extraction methods, but the first to establish economic viability in the modern nursery industry, and that still most commonly used, is the balled root process. In this later process, the ball of roots in close proximity to the trunk or stem of arborescent material is preserved and the peripheral root system outside that area is removed, usually during the extraction process but sometimes thereafter. The remaining root ball then generally is encased either in some type of a wrapping, such as burlap or other degradable cellulosic material established and maintained thereabout by tying or other fastening or by placement in configurationally sustaining containers such as cans or pots. This method of extracting, moving and merchandising trees and shrubs removes substantial amounts of the peripheral and tap root systems of plants to cause disruption of their overall biological systems with resultant shock-type reactions that often are sufficient to kill the plants over a period of time, if not immediately, and to substantially lessen their statistical viability.
The bare root extraction method loosens the soil about the roots of a tree or shrub and thereafter lifts the root structure from the earth to maintain a substantially greater proportion of the peripheral root structure, and tap root if present, outside the central ball that would be preserved in the balled root extraction process. Bare root extraction generally tends to be less damaging to the biological system of the extracted plant because of its less destructive nature and, with proper maintenance of environmental conditions from the times of extraction to re-establishment of a plant in the earth, the system tends to provide statistically higher survival rates for nursery stock after extraction and also generally makes transportation and storage of the extracted material easier and more simple. Though bare root type of extraction, especially of larger nursery stock, has increased in the recent past, it probably is not and has not been so extensively used as balled root extraction largely because of the difficulties involved in the bare root extraction process and the lack of specific mechanical apparatus to efficiently and effectively accomplish it. The instant invention seeks to provide a tool for use on existing machines such as tractors, backhoes and front end loaders that efficiently and effectively accomplishes bare root extraction of larger trees, shrubs and stumps, whether of a nursery stock or other nature.
Traditional digging tools of mechanical earth moving equipment are not particularly effective in bare root tree extraction as buckets, shovels and the like tend to shear the earth where they enter it and this action also tends to shear root structure in the path of the digging device to destroy the peripheral root structure outwardly of the digging area. Attempts have been made to accomplish bare root extraction by use of machines such as powered shovels or cranes by fastening the movable digging element of the machine to a plant trunk or stem above the earth sustaining it and extracting the plant by pulling it upwardly, but this has not proven particularly effective because, at the time of pulling, the peripheral root structure commonly is widespread and substantially contained in the surrounding earth. By reason of the comparatively low tensile strength of the peripheral root systems of plants and the nature of their earth engagement, most of the peripheral roots are severed from a plant when it is removed in this manor. Usually no more roots remain with pulling type extraction than would remain were the plant extracted by traditional balled root digging methods.
To solve this problem the instant tool provides a frame carrying a plurality of horizontally spaced tines that may be inserted in the earth in angulated orientation from a position adjacent a plant root structure to pass through and under the root structure with little, if any, damage to the roots. The tines then are moved by their supporting hitch structure firstly in a loosening fashion by changing their angulation in a pivotally upward motion and secondly thereafter in an upward lifting motion to extract the root structure from the embedding earth. This extraction process tends to loosen the soil beneath and about the root structure before causing substantial upward motion so that a substantially larger proportion of the peripheral roots remain in tact during the extractive process rather than being severed or broken off as with ordinary mechanical digging or pulling processes. The extraction device after plant extraction also serves a secondary function of supporting the extracted tree or shrub for transport to a distant position for processing, storage or further transport by other means.
To provide economic viability, the instant tool has a supporting frame structure that is attachable to three or four point tool hitches of existing earth moving machines for direct operation by the existing systems of those machines without required intervening mechanical linkage between the machines and the extraction tool. The tool frame may be readily configured for attachment to most existing three or four point hitches of earth moving machines that provide pivotal mounting of a tool on first spacedly opposed lifting arms for vertical motion and on one or two second tilting arms that cause pivotal motion of the tool about the axis of pivot through the lifting arms. The tool may be used on a machine either in a forwardly mounted position as in the case of a tractor or front end loader or in a rearwardly mounted position as is in the case of a backhoe type machine. This structure and its motion are in contradistinction to previously known tree and stump extraction devices that move hook-like or claw-type tools horizontally through the earth or use intervening mechanical linkage between the tool and a powering machine hitch to cause either horizontal or vertical extraction or both only upon horizontal motion of the powering machine over the earth.
To be effectively functional, the instant tool must provide a plurality of relatively long spaced extraction tines of small cross-section that may be easily placed in and beneath a root structure to provide soil loosening and lifting over a substantial area while minimizing damage to any roots that are in or near the path of the extraction tines during motion. To allow use of tines of relatively small cross-sectional area and to aid their insertion in the earth, I provide depending fin-like structures on at least some tines to guide the finned tines along a lineal course determined largely by their orientation at the point of initial earth entry. This fin structure not only relieves substantial stresses and strains upon the interconnection of the tines with a supporting frame structure, but also tends to maintain the spacial configuration of the extraction tines during their insertion, especially in non-homogeneous soils containing area of harder or more dense material. I releasably mount the extraction tines in collars carried by the tool frame to provide additional strength in the interconnected areas and to allow removal of tines for maintenance and replacement or variance of their configurational array if desired or required for specialized purposes. The fin structure is not necessarily required and extraction tines without it are effectively usable in my tool, especially in looser soil types not having any substantial amount of particulated rock. Such finless tines are within the ambit and scope of my invention.
The instant tool may be effectively used for the extraction of the root structure of stumps to provide a multifunctional use for the tool. This provides additional benefits not only in the horticulture industries, such as in removing stumps after tree removal from a Christmas tree farm, but also in land clearing generally where the tool may be formed in required size and strength to remove trees, bushes, stumps and other vegetative debris. The tool may also be used in other earth related tasks such as concrete removal and breaking, especially of flat slabs; extracting and transport of boulders; transport of agricultural products and their containers, and other similar tasks. These potential multifunctional uses add substantially to the economic viability of the tool, especially for use in smaller horticultural enterprises where specialized tools for such purposes may not be available.
My invention lies not in any one of these features individually, but rather in the synergistic combination of all of its structures that necessarily give rise to the functions flowing therefrom.